Outstanding Service Award

Broadcast leader

By PATRICK LINDNER
Alumni News staff

Listen carefully during a visit with Jack McBride, and you’ll hear the whispers of history. McBride, retired general manager of the Nebraska Educational Television Network, devoted more than 40 years of his career to Nebraska ETV. He has been called a pioneer in educational television.

On Friday, April 9, McBride received an award for outstanding service to the profession from the NU Journalism Alumni board in recognition of his many years at NET.

McBride opened the nation’s seventh oldest public television station at the University of Nebraska in 1954, where he was director of television, general manager and a professor of telecommunications.

“We made it happen with a lot of hard work,” he said about the station.

McBride said forming the station was all new for him and the people helping him. He said it was a major task and a learning experiment at the same time.

“I was also a lot younger, so I could handle it,” he said chuckling.

McBride was a busy man until his retirement in 1996. He served as executive consultant to the Great Plains National Instructional Television Library, secretary and treasurer for the Nebraskans for Public Television Inc. and for the Public Radio Nebraska Foundation. He was chairman of the U.S. Public Television Outreach Alliance and executive director of the Agricultural Satellite Corporation. He said he devoted enormous time and energy to keep up with the demands of his job.

“I’d usually get up early in the morning and go to bed real late at night,” he said.

But even after retirement, McBride is still hard at work. He is a regular at NET and still performs many duties as general manager emeritus. He serves as secretary to the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission, which he initiated in 1963. He also continues to serve as senior consultant to NET and as professor of telecommunications.

Ron Hull, special adviser for programming at NET, said McBride stays busy and has been working on an international project titled “Heartland,” a locally produced educational program, and on international educational programming.

“He is a true pioneer. He’s really a leader in new technology and very, very well respected by his peers,” Hull said.

Hull has worked with McBride for almost 44 years and said he has the utmost respect for him. McBride has a spirited self-assurance, Hull said.

“He is a gentleman. He’s thoughtful, respectful. We are all lucky to have him as a colleague,” he said. “He ranks right up there with anybody in the nation.”